Volume VI Part 65 (1/2)
The Prince of Santa Croce was the duchess's 'cavaliere servante', and the princess was served by Cardinal Bernis The princess was a daughter of the Marquis Falconieri, and was young, pretty, lively, and intended by nature for a life of pleasure However, her pride at possessing the cardinal was so great that she did not give any hope to other competitors for her favour
The prince was a fine reat capability, which he ehtly, that it was no shame for a nobleence He was a careful man, and had attached hi, and he ran no risk of falling in love with her
Two or three weeks afterof the obstacles to research in the Roive me an introduction to the Superior of the Jesuits I accepted the offer, and was o and read when I liked, but I could, on writing my name down, take books aith ht reat that they gave me the key of a side door, so that I could slip in and out as I pleased
The Jesuits were always the y, or, indeed, Ithe crisis in which they were then involved, they were si of Spain had called for the suppression of the order, and the Pope had promised that it should be done; but the Jesuits did not think that such a blow could ever be struck, and felt almost secure They did not think that the Pope's poas superhuman so far as they were concerned They even intimated to him by indirect channels that his authority did not extend to the suppression of the order; but they were nature of the bull, but his hesitation proceeded froning his own sentence of death Accordingly he put it off till he found that his honour was threatened The King of Spain, the most obstinate tyrant in Europe, wrote to hi him that if he did not suppress the order he would publish in all the languages of Europe the letters he had written when he was a cardinal, pro to suppress the order when he becaanelli had been elected
Anotherthat it was not for a pope to be bound to the cardinal's promises, in which contention he would have been supported by the Jesuits However, in his heart Ganganelli had no liking for the Jesuits He was a Franciscan, and not a gentleh intellect to defy the king and all his threats, or to bear the sha exhibited to the whole world as an ambitious and unscrupulous anelli poisoned hi reason, and good reason, to dread poison, he norance of science, ht have injured his health; but I aiven by other hands than his own
My reasons for this opinion are as follows:
In the year of which I a, the third of the Pontificate of Clee ofpredictions She obscurely prophesied the suppression of the Jesuits, without giving any indication of the time; but she said very clearly that the con five years threeas Sixtus V, not a day more and not a day less
Everybody treated the prediction with contempt, as the product of a brain-sick wootten
I ask ment, and to say whether they have any doubt as to the poisoning of Ganganelli when they hear that his death verified the prophecy
In a case like this, moral certainty assumes the force of scientific certainty The spirit which inspired the Pythia of Viterbo took its measures to infor suppressed, they were not so weak as to forego a fearful vengeance The Jesuit who cut short Ganganelli's days ned, but the fact was that they could not bring themselves to believe it till it took place It is clear that if the Pope had not suppressed the Jesuits, they would not have poisoned hiain the prophecy could not be taxed with falsity We may note that Clement XIV, like Sixtus V, was a Franciscan, and both were of low birth It is also noteworthy that after the Pope's death the prophetess was liberated, and, though her prophecy had been fulfilled to the letter, all the authorities persisted in saying that His Holiness had died from his excessive use of antidotes
It seeanelli having killed himself to verify the woman of Viterbo's prediction If you say it was a mere coincidence, of course I cannot absolutely deny your position, for it hts on the subject will ren the Jesuits gave of their power It was a crime, because it was committed after the event, whereas, if it had been done before the suppression of the order, it would have been a stroke of policy, and rounds
The true politician looks into the future, and takes swift and certain measures to obtain the end he has in view
The second time that the Prince of Santa Croce saw me at the duchess of Fiano's, he asked me 'ex abrupta' why I did not visit Cardinal Bernis
”I think of paying my suit to him to-morrow,” said I
”Do so, for I have never heard his eminence speak of anyone with as much consideration as he speaks of yourself”
”He has been very kind to rateful to hin of delight at seeing me He praised the reserve hich I had spoken of him to the prince, and said he need not remind me of the necessity for discretion as to our old Venetian adventures
”Your eminence,” I said, ”is a little stouter, otherwise you look as fresh as ever and not at all changed”
”You make a mistake I am very different from what I was then I am fifty-five now, and then I was thirty-six Moreover, I aetable diet”
”Is that to keep down the lusts of the flesh?”
”I wish people would think so; but no one does, I alad to hear that I bore a letter to the Venetian ambassador, which I had not yet presented He said he would take care to give the aive in to break the ice to- cardinal ”You shall dine with me, and his excellence shall hear of it”